Automated, goal-directed, interactive voice-communication systems or information systems operable by natural speech are available, which are able to access databases and which lead the user, through targeted questions, to desired information, to a transaction or the like. The dialog is carried out in a very rigid sequence of system questions and user responses. Examples of such goal-directed interactive voice-communication systems are, inter alia, telephone banking systems or card-reservation systems. The goal-directed dialog systems include targeted querying of the user information necessary for a specific application.
However, some users have indicated that systems of this kind are not flexible enough in their current state of development. This is because user statements which are not modeled in the application of the particular interactive voice-communication system, cannot be interpreted and can lead to irresolvable dialog situations. These irresolvable dialog situations involve the interactive voice-communication system entering into a state where the same text is always output or the connection is interrupted.
In addition to such goal-directed dialog systems, there are also so-called chat dialog systems or ‘chat bots.’ A chat bot gives the user the impression that the user can carry on a conversation with it about nearly any subject. Such a “chat-oriented” dialog system supports a very free formulation of questions, responses, and explanations, on the user side, so that a chatty-type dialog can take place between man and machine. In such a chat-oriented dialog system, any user inputs at all are answered without being rejected. However, a chat-oriented dialog system is not suited for conducting a goal-directed informational dialog where it is necessary, for example, to query specific user information before the corresponding information can be found and output. For that reason, chat-oriented dialog systems or chat bots are sometimes criticized by users as not being proficient enough, since neutral and pointless system remarks are sometimes produced in response to non-modeled user statements. Thus, in some available systems, a user was only able to be connected directly and inflexibly to a goal-directed dialog expert or to a chat-oriented dialog expert or chat bot.